Trust - In What?

When I was a child, Jesus was my friend.  Trusting Him seemed the most natural thing in the world.  I trusted Him as I would my parents... for food, shelter, boo-boos, hurt feelings, etc.  As I grew into adulthood I trusted that He would get me into the right college, find me the right job, the right husband... I trusted that, until the "Great Tribulation" came, Jesus would make everything "work together for (my) good."  I did not expect life to be easy, just manageable.

Eventually, however, I graduated from college and married and began to face real life. Bad things happened, and I could not see them working for my good.  Often we had food and shelter, but just barely. I wondered if Jesus was taking care of us, or if we were squeaking by on our own. I believed that if God were in charge, we would see more abundance.  David kept telling me to trust God, but as time went on, I began asking, "For what?"  Sometimes, there was a touch of bitterness in the question (okay, more often than I care to admit), but often, I sincerely wanted to know.

Trust God to protect my home?  I had two friends whose houses burned down, and another was burgled.

Trust God for our finances?  They took a nose dive and we had to completely re-organize our lives, and sometimes depend on others for help.

Trust God for health?  David's health was always on the edge of something major and we went through several long hospital stays.  Yes, he survived, but my father did not.

Trust God for safety?  I have a dear friend who is blind.  He wrote beautiful songs for the Lord.  He was hit by a truck.  He no longer has control over his body and can communicate just enough to let us know his mind is fine - and he's still writing songs he can no longer share.

It's a serious question.  Because if I trust God for these things, and He doesn't come through, then I think that He has failed me, or left me, or simply does not care.

While these destructive thoughts are whirling around in my brain, I run into a friend I have not seen for years, and she calmly asserts, "You know, God is not really in control, because we have free will." My jaw drops; she leaves before I can answer.

Because I am frozen.  Because, in the midst of all my bitterness and rebellion, I realize that there is one thing I still believe absolutely:


God  Is  In  Control.


I have found an anchor in my swirling world.  One thing that I can still trust God for.


God  Is  In  Control. 


I keep swirling out of control, but I keep coming back to the one thing I cannot doubt.


God  Is  In  Control. 


What does that mean?  If God is in control, then His will is happening in our lives.  What does He want to work in our lives?  Come on, you know the answer.  Say it with me,

Romans 8:28
 "For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."

Yep.  We all know that one.  Here's my problem:  I was getting hung up on "the called".  With all the things going on in my life, I seriously questioned whether or not I was one of "the called".  Then a lady I was talking to looked me in the eye and asked, "Do you love God?"  Well, of course!

Oh.  Oh my.  I never even read that line:  To them that love God.  When I quoted the scripture, I actually left that part out.  It makes a difference.

Because here is what God has been teaching me the past six months; here is another anchor, another point of trust:

Two scriptures that go hand in hand... John 14:6

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

and John 6:44

44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:

What do these verses mean?  They mean that you cannot even love God unless both Father and Son agree that you should.  I don't think you can get much more called than that.

Trust God.  He's working all of this for your good.

But... but... but the finances, the illness, the break-downs, the deaths?  Yes, all of that. Even the deaths -- even in death, I have found a third truth in which to anchor my trust.

Colossians 3:3  (My new favorite scripture)

3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

All my confusion, all my swirling thoughts, all my doubts and fears stop right here.


Your life is hid with Christ in God.  


With the Son, in the Father.


All things work together to produce that good.  To teach us to hide our life in Christ.  To let His blood cover our sins and failures.  To let His love cover our inadequacies.  To give us a hiding place when we cannot fight anymore.  This is where we are to be.  This is where we find peace in the storm.

Jesus calls to us in John 15:4

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.


What more could we want?



Jules